


Happy Birthday - and Merry Christmas

by TheQueenOfWhump



Series: A Piece of Peter Pie [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Baby Peter Parker, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, Fluff, Gen, Light Angst, Literally based off of my life, Mostly Fluff, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Peter Parker: Christmas Baby, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark: Christmas Baby, for just a hot sec
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-27 10:37:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17160449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheQueenOfWhump/pseuds/TheQueenOfWhump
Summary: “Well, Peter, I guess it’s a happy birthday and a merry Christmas to both of us, today.”





	Happy Birthday - and Merry Christmas

When Mary Fitzpatrick tells Tony that she’s pregnant with his baby early in April of 2001, no one is more surprised than him.

No one is more surprised than him when she offers to let him keep it, too.

And it goes without saying that no one is more surprised than him when he actually agrees.

The surprise does wear off a bit throughout the coming months as Mary’s belly gets larger and larger, the time spent on countless parenting classes and preparations making it seem like it’s going incredibly fast and incredibly slow at the same time.

No one is more surprised than him when he actually does manage to turn his life around in those same months. By the time July rolls around he realizes that he hasn’t touched a single drop of alcohol since he agreed to take the child.

It’s no surprise to him that the baby is going to be born in the winter. The due date is December 20, and at this point he just can’t wait to meet the baby that will no doubt change his life for the better.

It’s not surprising that the baby is late. Lots of babies are late.

So, really, Mary’s water breaking as she sings _Silent Night_ in a church pew shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to anyone. And the baby being born at 9:43 AM Christmas morning should _not_ be a surprise.

But it is.

And as Tony holds his son in his arms as _A Christmas Story_ plays on the hospital TV, he can’t help but smile in his amazed and shocked state.

Being born on Christmas isn’t _that_ big of a deal, but it’s another fact added to the equation that just makes it that much more of a miracle.

Tony smiles even more as the baby yawns a bit, his large doe eyes laid on his father in bright curiosity.

“Well, Peter,” he says through his definitely-not-tears, “I guess it’s a happy birthday and a merry Christmas to both of us, today.”

———

“Happy birthday Peter!” Tony says as he carries the now one year old into the large living room.

Tony has gone all out in his decorating - the tree almost touches the extremely tall ceilings and lights are absolutely everywhere. Stockings are hung in front of the fireplace and tinsel hangs all over the place.

“Now I understand that this isn’t your first Christmas in all technicality, but you didn’t really get to celebrate last year, now did you?”

The little baby in his arms is absolutely fascinating by everything. His eyes get wide and his face splits into a huge smile as he stares at all the colorful lights, and he giggles as his dad brings him over to touch the baby-safe ornaments on the tree.

“Do you want to open your gifts?” Tony asks Peter, in a tone that suggests that he is genuinely asking for the baby’s opinion.

Peter giggles again, and Tony nods. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Peter is fascinated by the wrapping paper almost more than the gifts themselves. He likes the LEGO Duplo blocks from his dad. He loves the little blue car his Aunt Pepper got him, and the little red plane from his Uncle Rhodey, but his favorite is the stuffed lizard from his Uncle Happy.

_“Why would the kid want a lizard?” Tony asked, confused._

_“Why not?” Happy grunted._

Peter spends the morning and early afternoon playing with his Christmas presents as Tony watches _It’s_ _a_ _Wonderful_ _Life_ , but the day has only just begun as the doorbell rings.

The house is soon full of laughter and smiles - and more presents. Peter seems to understand that the big boxes are for him, and he smiles and reaches for them from within his dad’s arms.

“Someone’s eager,” Pepper laughs.

“Yes he is,” Tony says with a smile.

They open more presents, and this time they’re birthday presents. Tony opens his own birthday presents (“You guys didn’t have to get me anything.” “Oh, shut it, Tones.”) and his own Christmas presents (“Really, this was unnecessary.” “Again, shut it.”).

Peter gets his first taste of birthday cake, which goes as well as one would think. By the time Tony goes to get him ready for bed, cake is all over his face, chest, arms, and head.

The kid smiles like he’s innocent of how it all got there.

Tony comes back, and the others try not to laugh at the cake in his hair. They do, though, and their fun is ruined when Tony goes to the bathroom to check what’s on his face, cause _really guys why are you laughing-_

———

Later that night, when all the guests are gone and Peter is fast asleep, Tony tiptoes into the nursery to plant a small kiss on his son's head.

“Happy Birthday, Petey-Pie,” he whispers as he runs the tips of his fingers through his tiny curls. “And merry Christmas.”

He stops once more as he goes to close the door. “I love you.”

———

When Tony is kidnapped in November of 2008, he doesn’t think that the pain in his heart can get any worse than the heart wrenching agony of being apart from his almost-seven-year-old son.

It definitely does get worse though. It’s only when he wakes up one morning to his mocking captors wishing him a happy birthday - and don’t forget a _merry_ _Christmas_.

The hole in his chest just gets that much bigger. He hasn’t celebrated his birthday without his little boy in so long - no that there’s much to celebrate in this dark cave - but his son has never celebrated Christmas or his birthday without him at all. He can only imagine the pain his son is in right now.

The kid has never been good with separation anxiety - it was a miracle when he didn’t completely freak out when Tony initially left for Afghanistan.

Tony almost just caved and brought him along.

He’s so glad that he didn’t, now.

Regardless, his kid is probably a wreck, not even able to enjoy Christmas because his dad isn’t there to celebrate with him.

“Happy Birthday,” Tony whispers to himself - though not to himself - as he works on crude sketches for a possible suit of armor - a possible way to escape back to his kid. He wipes what is definitely not a tear away from his cheek. “Merry Christmas.”

———

“Dad, I don’t understand-“

“What don’t you understand?”

“You - you said you-“

“I know what I said. I just want to know what you don’t understand.”

“But - but you _said_ -“

“Changed my mind.” Tony smirks from the couch, kicking a stray piece of wrapping paper away from the coffee table.

Peter’s face absolutely lights up from his spot on the loveseat. He holds the new Spider-Man suit up like another fifteen year old would hold up a sweater, turning it around so he can look at the spider logo on the front.

His face grows confused again as he puts it back down. “You said I wasn’t allowed to be Spider-Man anymore.”

Tony sighs and leans forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “I know I did.” He looks up at his sons wide eyes. He can tell he’s hanging on every word. “That was when I caught you sneaking in the house at one in the morning with a bullet wound in your side.”

Guilt flashes across his kid’s face. “That’s fair.”

Tony can’t help but chuckle. “You’re darn right.”

Peter laughs a bit, too, before he gets serious again. “What made you change your mind?”

He sighs again, looking at the ground. “I know - I know I can’t stop you from helping people. It’s what I do, it’s what all your aunts and uncles do - so it’s not fair on you to stop you from doing the same. Not to say you won’t be at a way lower level - and that there won’t be rules - but I think that with a bit of help, you could actually make a real difference.” He smiles a bit, looking up at his son’s wide eyes.

“You - you think so?” Peter asks with a tiny smile.

“Yeah,” Tony says, smiling even more. “I’m proud of you, Peter.”

He barely has any time to move before his arms are full of teen. He chuckles as he hugs his son, his face full of brown curls.

“Thank you,” Peter says.

Tony gladly returns the hug. “Happy birthday, Spider-Baby.”

“Happy birthday, Dad,” Peter says back as he breaks away. “And _don’t_ call me that.

Tony just ruffles his hair with a smile. “Merry Christmas, Spider-Baby.”

  
“ _Dad_ -“

———

See, Peter doesn’t mean to stay up as Spider-Man till four in the morning on Christmas Eve.

It just kind of happens.

He actually comes home a total of four times, but he just can’t _sleep_. And it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he’s excited for Christmas.

Absolutely nothing.

“Wake up, Spider-Baby!” Tony exclaims as he enters the boy’s room. “Happy seventeenth!”

His Dad doesn’t know how late he was up. He can’t - Peter had Ned hack the suit again.

Peter just grumbles and turns his face into the pillow. “Five more minutes.”

Tony just grins. “It’s Christmas, kid.”

Peter just stares. “Okay, two more minutes.”

Tony clicks his tongue. “Now, we can’t have this - Pepper is joining us today. We need to open all of her Christmas presents, too.”

Peter actually perks up a bit at this, despite the tiredness that holds him down like a dumbbell. “Yeah, just - just gimme a minute. Be out in a second.”

He’s out in twenty minutes.

“Someone’s tired,” Pepper says from the couch.

Peter just stops dead in the doorway, confusion falling across his face. “What is that?”

Tony smirks from his place next to Pepper - as his fiancée, she has to join in on their festivities, and Peter doesn’t mind in the slightest. “You’ve been telling me that you’ve been needing a new mattress for months. Is it that big of a surprise?”

Peter just smiles and goes over to the large white rectangle, flopping it down on the ground. He grabs a blanket from the couch and immediately lays down. “I like this gift.”

He can hear Pepper and Tony laughing. “Well, I guess Pep and I will open our gifts without you-“

“Can you bring them to me?” Peter whines from the mattress. “‘M tired.”

“I’ll get you your stocking,” Pepper says with a smile, because she just can’t resist those sleepy curls.

Tony just rolls his eyes. “Only cause it’s your birthday, kid.”

“Exactly.”

Tony grabs a pillow and chucks it at his head. “You little-“

———

It’s a little bit later, and Tony and Peter are both in Tony’s bed, half asleep. Peter supposes that Tony had trouble sleeping, too, but probably not for the same reasons.

Pepper steps into the room with a robe and a towel hat on. Peter lazily looks up for a moment before burying his head back in the covers.

“I can’t believe you both,” she says. “Literally the biggest day of the year, and you’re _asleep_.”

“Hey, don’t judge our traditions,” Tony grumbles.

“Yeah,” Peter says. “It’s a ‘born on Christmas’ thing.”

“Well, you both need to get ready.” She goes over to her dresser. “And unless you want to see me without clothes on Peter, I suggest you get in the shower.”

Peter shoots out of the bed like he was struck by lightning. “I’m going, I’m _going_ -“

———

“A camera?”

Happy nods a bit. “Yeah - I know you plan on taking photography your senior year, so I figured you’d need a decent camera to fit the bill.”

Peter’s face lights up as he tackles the man in a hug. “Thank you so much, Happy!”

The man awkwardly pats the kids back. “Don’t mention it, kid. Happy birthday.”

Tony grins from his place on the couch. “You do know that class uses film cameras, yes?”

Happy looks at the digital camera and sputters. “You - wait, _what_ -“

“Tony, you still need to open my gift,” Rhodey says, giving him an awfully large box covered in gold and red paper.

Tony grunts. “And why did you get me something?”

His friend smacks him in the back of the head. “Just open it, you idiot.”

“Yeah, Dad,” Peter laughs. “Listen to Uncle Rhodey.”

“You’re turning my own blood against me - _oh heck yes_.”

“What’d ya get, Dad?”

“A massager.”

“Ugh, you’re so old.”

“Oi-“

———

Peter takes a two hour long nap.

Tony doesn’t question it, but that’s before he checks the Spider-Suit’s log manually.

He should be mad, but he can’t help but just chuckle.

He supposed that he never wants the childlike innocence of not being able to sleep on Christmas Eve to leave his kid.

So he lets him sleep.

———

Tony isn’t happy with the white elephant gift exchange gift he ends up with when all the Avengers come over later that evening. He - of course, because he always has the best luck - ends up picking the last gift available, which is after Peter steals the new VR headset _he_ stole from Bucky after the ex-soldier insisted that he did not want the gift whatsoever.

Peter doesn’t even bat an eyelash as he rips the gift away from his own father. The nerve.

But it doesn’t even begin to stand up to the nerve of whoever put _this_ in there.

“Who did this?” he deadpans.

“You’ll never know, Tony,” Steve says. “It could be anyone.”

If Clint dying of laughter on the floor is anything to go by, the only one who doesn’t know is Peter, who is already engaged in some sort of virtual reality that’s probably a really cheap knockoff of anything at Stark Industries.

“What is it, Tones?” Sam asks, trying not to snicker (and failing).

“It is,” Tony says, turning the box around to show them, “a tiny snowman you put in your fridge.”

He opens the box, and indeed, a tiny snowman rests inside. “ _Hey, is it cold in here, or is it just me?_ ”

Tony shuts and opens the door again. “ _You again? Close the door, you’re letting all the cold out!_ ”

He opens the door a third time, and the snowman starts to sing a version of _Up On the Housetop_ with refrigeration lyrics.

Clint is still dying on the floor.

Tony sighs and starts to walk to the kitchen.

“If you put that in our fridge, I’m divorcing you.”

“We aren’t even married yet.”

“I wouldn’t cross her,” Natasha says dryly.

Tony puts the snowman on the counter. “Noted.”

For now.

———

“Hey, Dad, come check this out!”

“You wouldn’t have stolen it if you didn’t want me to see it.”

“But it’s so _cool_!”

“Nope. You can ask Mr. Snow if he wants to see it, though.”

“You named him?”

“‘Course I did.”

———

By eleven o’ clock at night, everyone has either gone home or gone to their own rooms.

Peter has all his lights turned out, and is still using his headset. To anyone else, he is just staring blankly around a dark room.

There is a knock on the door. Peter lifts the contraption off of his head, grinning as he goes to open it.

“Hey, Pete,” his Dad says as he walks in. “There a reason the lights are off?”

“Come on!” Peter says, taking his Dad by the hand and pulling him over to the bed. “You need to see this!”

Tony smirks. “Alright, kid. Fine.”

Peter gives him the headset, and Tony puts it on.

Thousands of stars full his vision. He can see the Milky Way stretch far above him, extending to the horizon. It’s even reflected downwards, so stars surround him from all sides as he looks at all of them in wonder.

He pulls it off his head, and looks down to see Peter’s wide eyes staring into his own. “Did you like it?”

Tony just gives his son the biggest, warmest hug he can. “Yeah. I did.”

Peter hugs him back. “Almost as good as when you showed me them in the Iron Man suit. You know, when you flew me to the mountains and we stargazed?”

 _My favorite part of that night was your smile._ “Yeah. Almost that good.”

“Happy birthday, Dad.”

“Happy birthday, Peter.” He lays him down on the bed - on his new mattress - and ruffles his hair. “Merry Christmas.”

Peter yawns and closes his eyes. “Merry Christmas.”

Tony quietly makes his way to the doorway, but stops right before he closes the door.

“I love you so much, kid.”

A bit of shuffling. “Love you, too, Dad.”

It truly was a happy birthday.

And a very, very merry Christmas.

**Author's Note:**

> This is dedicated to my dad, who I share the best birthday ever with. I wouldn’t trade our Christmas duo birthday for the world. I wouldn’t be who am today if it wasn’t for him.
> 
> The timeline was changed a bit for this, of course. Tony wasn’t kidnapped in November, and neither of them were born on Christmas (duh). 
> 
> And that little snowman exists. We got it for the white elephant thing. It’s in our fridge now. God help me.
> 
> This is the first fic in my new one shot series! I hope to add more in the future!


End file.
